The Central Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party, meeting on April 15, 2024, analysed the political situation resulting from the recent legislative elections, addressed the preparation of the elections for the European Parliament and the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira and deepened the analysis about the country's situation and the responses that are required. The Central Committee of the PCP called the XXII Congress for December 13, 14 and 15, 2024.

1. National situation

1. The recent developments in national political life, following the elections and the confirmation of AD as the force with the most votes and with the most MPs, albeit by a small margin, within the framework of a right-wing majority in Parliament, confirm the essential aspects of the characterisation made at the previous meeting of the Central Committee: a balance of forces at the institutional level even more favourable to big capital, the heightening of right-wing policies, the worsening of exploitation and new setbacks in the field of rights; the growth of forces that head reactionary and fascistic projects; the resignation of the PS in light of developments in the political framework, thereby facilitating the political action of the AD Government at the service of the goals of the economic groups.

The election of the Chairman of the Assembly of the Republic, the entry into office of the Government, its Programme and the first measures announced confirm the aims and project of the PSD and CDS, which unite them with IL and Chega, to heighten exploitation, inequalities, injustices, favouring economic groups, deterioration of public services to justify the handing over of the State's social functions to private business, of taking the privatisation process even further, at the outset of TAP, of increasing the submission of Country to the European Union (EU) and the US.

The Government Programme confirms, in its fundamental features, whether through what it states or what it omits, the option of deepening right-wing policies. Among other aspects, the following stand out: the option for low wages and pensions, including the espousal of the proposals of CIP (Confederation of Portuguese Business), aiming to reduce the TSU (Single Social Tax) for capital and attack and privatise Social Security; the diversion of even more public resources to big capital, namely with the reduction of the IRC (Corporate Tax), and also of the surtax, for large companies; submission to the impositions of the EU and the Euro with a further attack on public services, including the diversion of resources from the National Health Service and Public Schools to private groups, along with new limitations on public investment; new privatisations and public-private partnerships (healthcare, railways, etc.); further liberalisation of the housing sector; an even greater commodification of nature.

The Government's attempt to hide its underlying options to favour big capital does not stand up to reality and became even clearer as soon as the Government took office. An example of this is the manoeuvre surrounding a supposed “huge drop” in the IRS (Income Tax) which, in fact, was intended to hide the Government's true option of lowering taxes for big capital and, above all, delaying and limiting as much as possible, wage increases.

2. Despite the vehemence with which the claims of dispute over the leadership of the opposition were made, the PS's stand regarding the Motion of Rejection of the Government Programme and the first proposals tabled by the PCP confirms not only its attitude of resignation, but also the repeated insistence on the option of continuing right-wing policies.

As the PCP warned, Chega's institutional representation, in itself a negative factor to be stressed, is being used to deceive and downplay the seriousness of the aims and intentions of the PSD/CDS Government, as well as its reactionary nature and conceptions, and for the development of manoeuvres to open space for convergences and agreements between PS and PSD, which only increase the base of political and institutional support for right-wing policies. In these circumstances, a firm denunciation of these purposes is necessary, the struggle against reactionary projects and forces, the defence of the April values and compliance with the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.

There is no way out of the national problems by persisting and furthering the right-wing policy that has accumulated and worsened them. What the situation in the Country shows is that the solution to these problems - low wages and pensions, attack on workers' rights, particularly on careers, working hours and contracts; weakening of the right to healthcare, with serious problems in the NHS; serious limitations on the rights to education, housing, mobility, the rights of children and parents; deterioration of the national productive apparatus, among others, requires concrete measures such as those proposed and tabled by the PCP since the first day of this legislature and, above all, the construction of an alternative policy that ensures the rights and interests of the workers, the people and the Country. The development of the workers' and people's struggle will be a determining factor in its implementation.

The Motion of Rejection of the Government Programme that the PCP presented, materialising, from the first moment, the commitment made to the Portuguese people of firm opposition to the right and its politics, has, besides its institutional dimension, an expression of rupture with this policy, of clear signalling regarding any illusions about the nature of the current majority, of affirming the necessary alternative, a moment of clarification of the position of the different political forces. From the present Government’s political programme and composition, one cannot expect an action that provides a solution to what is essential to the lives of the workers, the people and the Country. And even this or that demagogic measure that it takes or is forced to enact as a result of the struggle of the workers and the people, will not deceive the general meaning of its options and the interests it serves.

3. In 2023, the growth of the national economy stood at 2.3%, revealing the expected slowdown that the forecasts for 2024 confirm and prolong, and the trend to approach the incipient average growth that marked the last two and a half decades of the single currency.

Valuing the results of the workers' struggle to limit, stop and reverse losses in purchasing power, it is important to note that the reality of low wages persists as a structural problem and contrasts with the profits of the main economic groups and multinationals. Under the tow of inflation, sectors such as large retail, energy or telecommunications have amassed profits on top of profits in recent years. The banking sector, riding on the rise in interest rates and the maintenance of bank commissions, recorded, following 2022, scandalous profits in 2023 – the five main banks alone achieved more than 4.3 billion euros in profits. A significant part of these results left the Country in the form of dividends and interest.

Around 1.8 million people live below the poverty line. The number of people living with enormous difficulties is increasing and whose salaries and pensions do not allow them to cover basic day-to-day expenses. The fact that 250 thousand workers have more than one job is particularly significant, a figure that grew by 7% in the last year.

Confirming the high economic dependence of the country and the frailty of its productive apparatus, the external balance of goods reached a deficit of almost 22 billion euros. Only the results obtained in the tourism sector made it possible to mask this worrying reality.

At the expense of the lack of responses to the serious scale of national problems, the Country recorded a budget surplus of 1.2% of GDP. Around 60% of the budget surplus achieved, which the previous PS Government boasts, resulted from the option of not implementing the public investment budgeted for 2023. A surplus that is expressed in the difficulties present in the NHS, in the Public Schools, in housing, in public transport, of security forces and services or in justice, as well as the failure to build and maintain infrastructure and equipment.

Once again, in 2023, the public investment carried out was insufficient to replace the investment capacity consumed this year, due to the wear and obsolescence of equipment and infrastructure. A situation that even the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan did not change, confirming its insufficiency and small impact on GDP growth.

The policy of submission to the interests of big capital and the impositions of the EU, resulting in wage restraint, budgetary restrictions, liberalisations and privatisations, funding of profits by capital with public resources, predation of natural resources, marks the options of the previous and current governments and reveals itself, with each passing day, as the cause of the problems of the people and the country.

4.  A foreign and national defence policy persists, aligned and subordinated to the US, NATO and the EU and their action of worsening the situation in Europe, and promoting confrontation, militarism and war. It is in this context that a broad operation emerged around the reintroduction of mandatory military service (MMS), also with expression in Portugal, and which should be rejected. The PCP has always defended the MMS within a logic embedded in the constitutional goals – of peace, cooperation, contribution to the country's capacitation and sovereign affirmation -, which is absent from the proposals that are now emerging. What is needed is to respond to the state to which the choices of successive Governments of the PS, PSD and CDS have led the Armed Forces, namely by valorising wages and careers and ensuring their social dignity.

5.  The answer and solutions to the country's problems and challenges require a rupture with right-wing policies and the implementation of a patriotic, left-wing alternative. An alternative that calls for the heightening of the mass struggle, the convergence of democrats and patriots and the strengthening of the social, political and electoral influence of the PCP.

The alternative that needs to be built - without prejudice to one's own positions, sensibilities and points of view - cannot waive clarity regarding the indispensable rupture with right-wing policies and the affirmation of a distinctive path for the Country's sovereign development.

Clarity in opting for a policy that includes the valorisation of work and workers, their rights and wages, as a priority objective, in confrontation with the interests of monopoly capital, its privileges and instruments of exploitation.

Clarity in defending and valuing the social functions of the State and public services against the attacks to which they are being subjected.

Clarity in combating all discrimination, exposing and denouncing the class reasons that are at its root, and promoting equality.

Clarity in rejecting the strategy of Portugal's submission to the European capitalist integration process, fighting federalist conceptions that undermine the sovereignty of States and subordinate their national interests to those of the great powers.

Clarity in affirming a position that opts for peace and against war, favours dialogue and cooperation between States, rejects the arms race and prevents the Country from being thrown into militarist adventures.

Clarity in denouncing what capitalism represents as a system of exploitation, predation and oppression on which inequalities and injustices are based.

Clarity in combating the right, the reactionary and anti-democratic projects and forces, denouncing and combating their objectives.

An alternative that is based on the values and achievements of the April Revolution and has the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic as a factor of aggregation.

The alternative will not be built by the exclusive action of the PCP, but there is no alternative without the PCP and its determining action. The alternative that the Country needs requires strengthening the influence of the PCP, with its identity, its project, its programme, its commitment to the workers, the people and the Country. The alternative that is imperative to build does not dispense with the political courage, the consistency and determination of the PCP, its own affirmation as a factor in expanding convergence, decisive factors of the path that Portugal needs to follow.

It is towards this convergence, clearly guided towards a truly alternative project and path, that the Central Committee of the PCP calls on all those who do not conform to the course imposed by decades of right-wing policies, all those who do not surrender to the growth of reactionary and retrograde forces, all those who know that the force of transformation is in their hands, to mobilise and act to resist and advance on the paths of April.

6. The EU's policies and guidelines and the right-wing policies of successive governments in Portugal are two sides of the same coin. Both are at the root of the structural problems that the Country faces, blockages to its development, and the difficulties felt by broad strata of the population.

For the PCP, the struggle that must be waged in the European Parliament in defence of the interests of the workers, the people and the Country, is inseparable from the struggle for a Europe of cooperation between sovereign states with equal rights, of social progress and peace, that breaks with neoliberal, federalist and militarist integration. A path that is also inseparable from the struggle to break with right-wing policies in Portugal, for a patriotic and left-wing alternative.

The attempts that others make to conceal the true class nature of the EU and the effects of its policies, seeking to hide their own responsibilities in the definition and application of these policies, must be countered by the indispensable recognition and clarification of the connection between the problems and difficulties present in national life and decisions taken at EU level, including in the European Parliament.

Of liberalisations and privatisations that left strategic sectors and companies in the hands of foreign capital, to the deterioration of the national productive apparatus; from low-wage policies to the erosion of social and labour rights; from budgetary restrictions that stifle public investment and the full funding of the State's social functions, the increase in social and territorial inequalities; of the ECB's options of increasing interest rates, which increase banking profits at the expense of difficulties for families, to blackmail and threats of sanctions in case of non-compliance with the dictates of those in charge of the EU.

It is in this context that the intervention of PCP’s MPs in the European Parliament assumes unique characteristics, which make it indispensable and irreplaceable:

- For the affirmation of the decisive nature of national sovereignty, for the defence of national interests, against harmful EU impositions;

- For the defence of the rights of the workers and people, for the improvement of their living conditions;

- For the defence of public services and social functions of the State;

- To minimise, with concrete measures, the constraints and negative consequences of integration and by mobilising all means, resources and possibilities in favour of Portugal's progress and the well-being of the Portuguese people;

- For the fight in defence of freedom and democracy, against all forms of discrimination, inequalities and injustices; against the promiscuity between economic power and political power that fuels corruption;

- For the courageous statement that militarism and war are not a solution and that it is necessary to open paths to peace, based on the political solution of international conflicts, the dissolution of political-military blocs and the construction of a collective security system;

- For the conviction that the fight for the environment and for the resolution of burning problems that Humanity faces is inseparable from the fight for economic and social transformation;

- For the deep connection to the national reality, to workers and populations, and for the solidarity with the struggle of other peoples, other countries, for a Europe of peace, cooperation and progress.

2. Intervention and mass struggle

1. The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the significance and importance of the development of the mass struggle and values the various actions developed and ongoing, to defend rights and better living conditions, protest against employer action and right-wing policies, actions that are part of the demand for an alternative policy.

Struggle in which workers from different sectors of activity, mobilised by CGTP-IN Unions, played the key role, in strikes, concentrations, plenary sessions and other forms of struggle.

A struggle in which stands out the action of women, centred on March 8, International Women's Day, expressed in multiple initiatives, which included the Equality Week promoted by CGTP-IN, from March 18 to 22 and the National Women's Demonstration promoted by MDM on March 23.

The Central Committee of the PCP stresses the importance of the struggle of the youth, namely the National Demonstration of Working Youth, in Lisbon and Porto on March 27, called by CGTP-IN/ Interjovem, and the actions of secondary and higher education students when marking March 24, National Student Day, with emphasis on the National Higher Education Demonstration, on March 21, in Lisbon.

2. A few days before the celebrations of the 50th. anniversary of the April Revolution, the Central Committee of the PCP calls on Party organisations and militants, on all democrats and patriots, to engage in the popular celebrations that are being prepared throughout the country. This is an important moment to recognise the successive generations of fighters, whose action was indispensable for the liberation of the people and the country from the yoke of fascism, and the April military; to value the achievements of April against the falsifications, mystifications and concealments promoted by its enemies; to affirm the values of April and promote its projection in the struggles of the present and in the democratic and independent future of Portugal, especially among the new generations.

The May Day journey, International Workers' Day, called by CGTP-IN is now of greater importance and significance, and calls for careful preparation in companies and workplaces and a growing and broad participation.

3. International situation

Reiterating the aspects relating to the international situation contained in the Communiqué of the previous meeting of the Central Committee of the PCP, it should be however stressed that:

1. The EU, by aligning and subordinating itself to the US and NATO, not only continues to try to hide its great responsibilities in the worsening of the situation in Europe, but also insists on the policy of confrontation, militarism and war, which is at its origin.

Particularly serious is the increasingly disturbing and dangerous rhetoric that accompanies the promotion of the arms industry and the increase in military spending in the EU. Rhetoric and measures that, calling for a “war economy”, actually constitute the instigation and increase of militarism and the transformation of the EU into a new warmongering political-military bloc complementary to NATO, serving the interests of its great powers and respective military-industrial complexes and at the expense of peace, rights and living conditions of workers and peoples.

The Central Committee of the PCP warns of the dangers and rejects the involvement of Portugal and the Portuguese Armed Forces in the warmongering plans of the US, NATO and the EU, which are blatantly contrary to Peace and to the principles enshrined in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic.

2. The most recent developments in the Middle East and, particularly, in Palestine, confirm the strong responsibilities of Israel, the US and other NATO powers in the permanent situation of destabilisation and war in this region, as evidenced by years of interference and aggression against Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen or the violent denial of the rights of the Palestinian people.

The Central Committee of the PCP expresses its concern and condemnation over the most recent escalation of tension and confrontation, which began with the bombing and destruction of the Iranian consulate in Damascus by Israel and Iran's response attack and considers that it is necessary to put an end to it and open paths that aim to ensure Peace in the Middle East.

Reaffirming the issue of Palestine as the central issue in the Middle East, which should not be omitted or neglected, the Central Committee of the PCP reaffirms that it is urgent to end the massacre and genocide of the Palestinian people carried out by Israel, the establishment of an immediate and permanent ceasefire, humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and the creation of the sovereign and independent State of Palestine, with the 1967 borders and capital in East Jerusalem, and the implementation of the right of return of refugees, as determined by UN resolutions .

The Portuguese Government must act in its foreign relations, including in the international bodies in which it is represented, in defence of Peace and, in particular, for the fulfilment of the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people, at the outset with the recognition of the Palestinian State, in compliance with the principles set down in the United Nations Charter and in international law.

3. The Central Committee of the PCP welcomes and calls for the development of actions for Peace and solidarity, particularly with the Palestinian people, in view of the brutal and criminal policy of occupation, colonisation and genocide pursued by Israel.

4. Party

1. The Central Committee of the PCP salutes the Party organisations and militants for their determined intervention to ensure the fulfilment of the Party's role in a demanding framework, facing manipulations and silencing of its positions, promoting clarification, boosting the mobilisation of workers and populations, at the outset with the celebrations of the 50th. anniversary of the 25th. of April and the great day of struggle on May Day, developing the work to build the CDU's result in the elections for the European Parliament and for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira, continuing the action to strengthen the Party.

Among these actions and initiatives, inseparable from the implementation of the guidelines defined in the Conference “Taking the initiative, strengthening the Party, responding to the new demands”, the following stand out: the contribution to the development of the mass struggle; the initiatives of the Parliamentary Group in the Assembly of the Republic at the beginning of the legislature; the large-scale holding of plenary sessions and meetings, including sessions with democrats and patriots supporting the CDU; the action to clarify the problems and aspirations of workers and populations, namely the one that took place between March 21 and 24; the rallies in Lisbon, Setúbal and Porto; the session “April 25th. - A Liberating and Emancipating Revolution, April is more Future”; the “Youth Festival, More April” initiative; many other initiatives commemorating the 103rd. anniversary of the PCP and the 50th. anniversary of the 25th. of April; the campaign of dissemination of the Avante! Festival, which took place between April 11 and 15.

2. The Central Committee of the PCP points out the following as priority features of the Party's intervention: the celebrations of the 50th. anniversary of the 25th. of April and the great day of struggle of May Day; the continuation of the preparations for the elections for the European Parliament on June 9 and the elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of Madeira on May 26; intervention in the problems of workers and populations, with initiative, clarification, mobilisation and struggle; the preparation of the Avante! Festival, which will take place on September 6, 7 and 8.

3. The Central Committee of the PCP values the work carried out, points out the need to continue discussion and take measures to overcome shortcomings and stresses the priority of work to strengthen the Party, inseparable from the initiative and connection to the masses and the generalisation of this style of work. Highlights include: carrying out a contact action with all Party members in the coming months; the need to implement the general action to give responsibilities to cadres, “a thousand new cadres”; promoting the recruitment and integration of new members, with a prompt response to those who contact the Party, and particularly with an organised recruitment task; the strengthening of the Party's organisation and intervention in companies and workplaces, with the regular functioning of cells, the definition of more people responsible, the creation of new cells and the guarantee of content focused on the concrete problems of the workers; strengthening local organisations; working with specific classes, strata and social sectors; the generalisation and deepening of positive experiences in information and propaganda work; the intensification of the Avante! dissemination campaign; measures for financial independence.

4. The Central Committee of the PCP has decided to convene the XXII Congress of the PCP on December 13, 14 and 15, 2024. The XXII Congress will take place in a complex and demanding international and national situation, in which the role of the Party assumes even greater importance, which raises the need for deeper analysis, the definition of guidelines and the affirmation of the communist ideal and project.

The shorter preparation period for the Congress, resulting from the circumstances of political developments and the consideration of its holding within the planned period, places specific aspects in its planning and phasing, in order to ensure broad participation, commitment and contribution from Party organisations and members in its preparation.

Thus, considering the Party's own experience and the concrete conditions that exist, the preparation of the Congress begins after this meeting of the Central Committee with the decisive contribution of the party collective for its success.

The Central Committee of the PCP calls on organisations and members of the Party to, based on the conclusions of the XXI Congress and the Resolution of the National Conference “Taking the initiative, strengthening the Party, responding to the new demands”, and taking into account the ongoing developments, make their contribution on issues they consider important in the preparation of the XXII Congress.

At the end of the first half of the year, the Central Committee will take stock of the progress of the preparation of the Congress, including the contributions raised so far, decide on the programme and point out essential contents for the preparation of documents to be approved by the Central Committee to submit for discussion in the entire Party at the beginning of October.

Facing a demanding situation, boosting political intervention and the struggle of workers and popular masses, strengthening the Party, affirming its ideal and project, the Portuguese Communist Party promotes the holding of its XXII Congress with confidence in the response it will provide for the workers and the Portuguese people, for the great objective of liberating workers and peoples, of building a new society, socialism and communism.